Sasha's Timeline

Born on the 21st. of July in Cambridgeshire, Sasha was the only child of her mother, a talented seamstress, and her father, a linguist. Heavily inspired by her mother, she began her creative career.

1964-65 : Canterbury College of Art

1965-68 : Exeter College of Art, Dip AD Painting.

1968-71 : Royal College of Art, MA Printmaking

1972 : Sasha settled in Wales; the move represented an idealistic choice at the time, for the birth of her first child. Sasha's early geometric designs were inspired by her love of Fair Isle sweaters from the 1940s and the rich and intricately patterned.

1974 : after her first hand-knitted commission for Alice Ormsby-Gore, the then girlfriend of Eric Clapton, she established her hand-made knitwear business, selling her debut collection to Browns in South Molton St.

1977 : she was awarded a Welsh Arts Council bursary to set up a dye workshop and began organizing her cottage industry with four outworkers. The business quickly grew and soon she had outlets in London, Milan, Berlin, New York and San Francisco.

1984 : by this time she had 130 outworkers knitting her designs all over Britain. In that same year her first book of knitting patterns ‘The Sasha Kagan Sweater Book’ (Dorling Kindersley) was published, and she had her first solo touring exhibition.

1987 : her next book ‘Sasha Kagan's Big and Little Sweaters’ (Dorling Kindersley) included patterns designed for children as well as adults, and featured more of her witty and whimsical designs, such as the Flower Girl and Cowboy, as well as florals and Memphis-inspired geometrics.

Sasha's use of luxury yarns and stitch detailing, combined with her original use of intarsia motifs, gave her a unique reputation, and her original work was now easily recognised.

2000-01 : Sasha had a solo exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, charting her design career so far, and highlighting her role in the resurgence of designer hand-knitting.

2004 : Delving into the world of ‘how-to’ books, Sasha wrote ‘Knitting for Beginners’ (Carroll & Brown). As hand-knitting enjoyed a large resurgence, this book encouraged those new to the craft.

2007 : ‘Crochet Inspiration’ (Sixth & Spring) is an invaluable dictionary, with over 200 different stiches; it also explored techniques and shapes that can be combined to create many garments, wraps and decorative motifs.

2008 : ‘Knitwear’ (GMC Publications) followed, with a collection of re-worked favourites and new designs.

‘The Classic Collection’ was published, a retrospective of over 40 years of Sasha's design career, including classic designs worked in modern yarns.

Sasha continues to be a regular contributor to publications such as Rowan Magazine, Vogue Knitting, The Knitter, Woman's Weekly, Knitting, Let's Knit, Inside Crochet, and Interweave Knits. She continues to inspire hand-knitting enthusiasts throughout the world. Sasha has spent her career helping promote the tradition and techniques of hand-knitting, and regularly lectures and runs workshops sharing her expertise.